Even the famous ohe one only speak German, boy, did he throw iowel. You t talk her out of these" -- he made a fist, as though to crush anintangible -- "ideas. Try it sometime. Get her to tell you some of the stuff shebelieves. Mind you," he said, "I like the kid. Everybody does, but theres lots thatdont. I do. I sincerely like the kid. Im sensitive, thats why. Youve got to besensitive to appreciate her: a streak of the poet. But Ill tell you the truth. You beat your brains out for her, and shell hand you horseshit on a platter. To give anexample -- who is she like you see her today? Shes strictly a girl youll read whereshe ends up at the bottom of a bottle of Seals. Ive seen it happen more timesthan youve got toes: and those kids, they werent even nuts. Shes nuts."
"But young. And with a great deal of youth ahead of her."
"If you mean future, youre wrong again. Now a couple of years back, out on theCoast, there was a time it couldve been different. She had something w forher, she had them ied, she couldve really rolled. But when you walk out on athing like that, you dont walk back. Ask Luise Rainer. And Rainer was a star. Sure,Holly was no star; she never got out of the still department. But that was before TheStory of Dr. Wassell. Then she couldve really rolled. I know, see, cause Im the guywas givihe push." He pointed his cigar at himself. "O.J. Berman."
He expected reition, and I didnt mind obliging him, it was all right by me,except Id never heard of O.J. Berman. It developed that he was a Hollywood actent.
"Im the first one saw her. Out at Santa Anita. Shes hanging around the trackevery day. Im ied: professionally. I find out shes some jocks regular, shesliving with the shrimp. I get the jock told Drop It if he dont want versation withthe vice boys: see, the kids fifteen. But stylish: shes okay, she es across. Evenwhen shes wearing glasses this thick; even when she opens her mouth and youdont know if shes a hillbilly or an Okie or what. I still dont. My guess, nobodyllever know where she came from. Shes such a goddamn liar, maybe she dont knowherself any more. But it took us a year to smooth out that at. How we did itfinally, we gave her French lessons: after she could imitate French, it wasnt so longshe could imitate English. We modeled her along the Margaret Sullavan type, but shecould pite curves of her own, people were ied, big ones, and to top itall, Benny Polan, a respected guy, Benny wants to marry her. A could ask formore? Then wham! The Story of Dr. Wassell. You see that picture? Cecil B. DeMille.
Gary Cooper. Jesus. I kill myself, its all set: theyre going to test her for the part ofDr. Wassells nurse. One of his nurses, anyway. Then wham! The phs." Hepicked a telepho of the air and held it to his ear. "She says, this is Holly, I sayhoney, you sound far away, she says Im in New York, I say what the hell are youdoing in New York when its Sunday and you got the test tomorrow? She says Im inNew York cause Ive never been to New York. I say get your ass on a plane aback here, she says I dont want it. I say whats yle, doll? She says you gotto want it to be good and I dont want it, I say well, what the hell do you want, andshe says when I find out youll be the first to know. See what I mean: horseshit on aplatter."
The red cat jumped off its crate and rubbed against his leg. He lifted the cat ooe of his shoe and gave him a toss, which was hateful of him except he seemednot aware of the ca